Lessons To Learn

I mentioned last week that I had purchased Winning Elections by Ron Faucheux. It contains 600+ pages of the best political advice from Campaigns & Elections, the magazine that, until recently, Faucheux edited and published.

One of the articles in the book was written by Joseph Napolitan, a long time Democrat political consultant. We may disagree politically, but I certainly respect him. He is a very good consultant.

I want to list some of his lessons that he writes about. Get the article or the book to read the lessons in detail. But, keep Dean in mind. These aren’t all of the lessons. In fact, Dean has done quite well with a number of them (there are over 100). But, I think the things he has messed up could have been avoided. Hindsight is 20-20 and, to some degree, these lessons are seen in hindsight. But, as a political consultant, they are things I keep in mind, though have never put on paper like Napolitan did. The numbers are mine. Napolitan has them in a different order, i.e. my number one below is his number 8. I will not write out all of his (just ten that stood out in my mind), but I do highlight a few for your consideration.

1. Never underestimate the intelligence of voters, nor overestimate the amount of knowledge at their disposal.

2. Negative attacks are better handled by third parties in paid media.

3. Perception is more important than reality.

4. Do not complicate the campaign.

5. What you hear in Peoria can be heard in Pasadena.

6. Try not to self-destruct.

7. Do not create exaggerated expectations — especially if you are likely to win.

8. Establish your own candidate’s credibility before you launch a negative campaign.

9. Restrain impassioned amateurs.

10. Use the newest technology — but don’t let it rule your campaign.

Okay, so those are very selected and aimed toward Dean’s campaign. There is a lot Dean is doing right, like using endorsements, harnessing the negativity of the incumbent (at least for the Dems), etc.

I want to invite you guys to watch something tonight from 7pm ET to 9pm ET. I have put together a panel of undecided voters in Georgia. The SEC Primary takes place on March 1st. Georgia and Texas have the most delegates at stake that day. With Cruz in Texas, Georgia is getting a lot of candidate focus. Cruz has built up a massive organization in the state, but there are still a lot of undecided...

“[T]he tendency of the political right these days is to presume a mentally unstable person or an Islamic radical. The tendency of the political left is to always blame their political opponents.” Most Americans pray. Most Americans believe in the power of prayer. They may not all pray to the same god, but they pray. On Wednesday afternoon, three gunmen went into a Christmas party in...

The attacks on Donald Trump by the establishment are not forthcoming. Do not expect them to happen. Expect instead that Marco Rubio starts going up in the polls. It has come to this — the establishment of the Republican Party has decided that Ted Cruz must be stopped. The way to stop Cruz is to not touch Trump and start helping Rubio. This goes back to the story the other day about Karl...